Ministry, Rigor Mortis guitarist Mike Scaccia dead

Ministry and Rigor Mortis guitarist Mike Scaccia has died from a possible heart attack while performing on stage last night. Playing with Rigor Mortis at the 50th birthday celebration of the band’s singer Bruce Corbett, Scaccia, 47, collapsed on stage just moments after reportedly requesting stage strobe lighting to be turned off. Attempts to revive him at the scene failed and he was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Scaccia, born in New York in 1965, formed thrash metal band Rigor Mortis with Harden Harrison and Casey Orr in 1983. In 1989, Al Jourgensen asked him to play guitar for Ministry’s 1989-1990 The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour. His impressive talents lead to Jourgensen asking him to join the band permanently. He accepted, leaving Rigor Mortis in 1991. He recorded and toured Ministry’s Psalm 69 as well as recording the band’s follow up Filth Pig, before leaving in 1996. Scaccia returned to a reformed Rigor Mortis in 2003. He was also asked by Al Jourgensen to once again return to tour with Ministry for their 2003 release Animositisomina, where he remained full time. He left the band again in 2006 but returned in 2012 for Minstry’s “comeback” album, Relaspe.

Al Jourgensen posted the following statement on Facebook this morning: "I just lost my lil' brother and my best friend - the 13th Planet compound is devastated, completely in shock and shattered. Mikey was not only the best guitar player in the history of music, but he was a close, close, close part of our family - and I just lost a huge chunk of my heart today. Our lives are forever changed. Life without Mikey is like orange juice without pulp - kind of bland. I have no words to express what this guy meant to me, my family, my career.... Everything! Get to know his lead parts - for they are in the pantheon of music! Unfortunately, most of you didn't get to know Mikey's soul -which is in the pantheon of humanity. He is my hero, my friend and my idol. Mikey was always beside me - my right hand man - through thick and thin, the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. Rest in peace my brother, my friend, my heart. Please pray for Mike Scaccia and Jenny, his wife and their children, and his family..... Al"